This Morning: Team Dell Blinks, SNDK, IBM Rising, Nokia Misses

By Tiernan Ray

Here are some things going on this morning in your world of tech:

Shares of Dell (DELL) are up 28 cents, or 2.2%, at $13.16, after the company this morning adjourned its special shareholder meeting without holding a vote on the proposed leveraged buyout by CEO Michael Dell and private equity firm Silver Lake.

The meeting is now scheduled to reconvene on July 24th at 5 pm, the company said.

CNBC‘s David Faber this morning said he thinks the company thinks it can turn some “no” votes to “yes” votes if it waits a little longer, though there is the prospect of a proxy fight at this point.

Carl Icahn, and Southeastern Asset Management, which oppose the LBO, are out with a fresh comment this morning, stating in a note to shareholders “”It is unfortunate, although not surprising, that Dell’s Board and Special Committee have delayed the date of the Special Meeting at which stockholders can vote on the Michael Dell/Silver Lake freeze out transaction.”

Shares of Intel (INTC) down 73 cents, or 3%, at $23.42, following a report yesterday afternoon of Q2 revenue slightly below consensus, and a lower outlook for this quarter, and after cutting its year view, saying there was some uncertainty about a snapback in PCs materializing later this year. There are no ratings changes here, that I can see, but several notes predicting the stock may be in something of a “holding pattern” while investors ponder the shifting nature of Intel’s business.

Betsy Van Hees of Wedbush Securities this morning reiterates a Neutral rating and a $23 price target, writing, “We are warming up to the story as we are positively encouraged by the restructuring effort, Atom emphasis, and CapEx cuts. However to get us back onboard the story, we look for execution, GM improvement, and meaningful revenue trajectory in mobile and the foundry business.”

Shares of Nokia (NOK) are down 12 cents, or 3%, at $3.92, after the company this morning reportedQ2 revenue of €5.7 billion, missing consensus of €6.37 billion, but breaking even on the bottom line, which was better than expectations for about €0.04 per share loss. Net sales in the company’s “devices & services” division fell 32%, year over year, and 6% from the prior quarter, but the company projected that sales will rise this quarter from last quarter’s level.

Shares of Verizon Wireless (VZ) are down $1.12, or 2%, at $49.62, after the company this morning reportedQ2 revenue of $29.8 billion, slightly missing a $29.83 billion estimate, and EPS of 73 cents, a penny better than expected. The company experienced 8.3% growth in wireless services revenue, with post-paid subscriber additions rising 6%. The company said it activated 7.5 million smartphones in the quarter, of which 3.83 million were Apple‘s (AAPL) iPhone.

Speaking of Apple, Digitimes‘s Cage Chao and Jessie Shenthis morning write that the company has “stepped up its pace of chip orders,” according to multiple unnamed sources “at its supply chain partners” and that chip orders are expected to rise “significantly,” with most of that having to do with Apple’s iOS-based devices, the iPhone, the iPad and the iPod Touch.

In other Apple rumors, DigiTimes‘s Julian Ho and Alex Wolfgramrelate that Apple is believed to be speaking with LG Display (LPL) about 55-inch and 65-inch television panels, writing that “rumors are circulating.” Sharp is apparently also a potential source.

Speaking even further of Apple, in case you missed it, The New York Times‘s Brian Stelter this morning penned a piece on Apple’s ambitions in the TV content market and its Apple TV product, writing that the company “has talked in-depth with other big distributors about similar apps [like its Netflix (NFLX) content], according to people involved in the talks. Its intent is to collect a fee from distributors in exchange for enhancing their television service and in that way, theoretically, make subscribers more likely to keep paying for cable.”

Shares of Apple are up $3.09, or 0.8%, at $433.40.

Shares of International Business Machines (IBM) are up $4.75, or 2.4%, at $199.30, after the company yesterday afternoon missedQ2 revenue expectations, but beat on the bottom line and raised its year EPS view.

There are a number of reviews this morning calling the quarter “mediocre,” or “mixed,” but Citigroup‘s Jim Suva reiterates a Buy rating, and a $250 price target, writing that “While bears had hoped for a big negative miss & material guide down, we welcome the apples to apples reiteration of at least $20 EPS in 2015 & raising proforma EPS in 2013 from $16.70 to $16.90 & we expect consensus EPS to move higher.”

“In our view the most encouraging & overlooked item is IBM booked its second sequential quarter of extremely strong new service signings of $16.4b (up +20% y/y & following +43% y/y in Q1) materially beating consensus of $13.6b.”

Shares of SanDisk (SNDK) are up up 36 cents, or 0.6%, at $59.80, after yesterday beatingQ2 revenue and EPS expectations, and offering a Q3 and a year view that both beat analysts’ revenue expectations.

About Tech Trader Daily

Tech Trader Daily is a blog on technology investing written by Barron’s veteran Tiernan Ray. The blog provides news, analysis and original reporting on events important to investors in software, hardware, the Internet, telecommunications and related fields. Comments and tips can be sent to: techtraderdaily@barrons.com.